Journal des soins infirmiers et des soins

Nurses, How to Become ‘Valuable Persons’ Using Social Media

Abstract

Elizabeth M LaRue and Janey Jubas

The professional benefits and security issues for nurses using social networking tools are demonstrated and assessed in this article. The phenomena of web-based social networks offers the opportunity for nurses to educate and receive healthcare information faster than ever before, raise the public’s health awareness while maintaining security and confidentiality for themselves and their social network followers. Social networking websites, such as Facebook©, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Google+, are presented in the context of extending health information to consumers. By using keywords and hashtags, accessing information through social network websites is explained through a fictional scenario of how these mechanisms can effectively promote the discovery of quality health information without difficulty.